The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-02-17
CLEoPATRA'S ASP.

r s-~ n
Actors accustomed only to the short
burneys and civilized sourroundinga
which arc connected with tour through
she English provinces can have little no
lion Of what 1t Is to be ION the road" In
The western states of America. IL Is not
snly that the country and the people are
less civilized, but both are so different.
Side by side with the strongest marks of
primitive habitation you find instances Of
the latest Inventions. The Pullman car
startles the antelope and the prairie dog
IN its passage; advertisements of Mustang
liniment are daubed upon immemorial
cliffs; and every little township of wooden
houses has its church, its newspaper, aud
is lyceum. ,ss3as #a 2,
It was in the latter buildings (Which, for
The benefit Of the uninitiated ! may ex-
plain, serve much the same purposes as
IN English town halD that the travelling
company that had arranged to join at
Kansas City, In the spring of 1SS-, usu-
ally gave its performances. The company
I was about to join was one Of those strug-
Cling combinations of which there
arc SO many travelling the states.
Upon the basis Of q small amount
IT capital and large stock of
histrionic enthusiasm, the leading man"
II the company, who was also the mama
ger, had Organised" the troupe for the
exposition to the .benighted denizens of
he far west Of the beauties Of the legiti-
nate drama in general, and OF his own
acting In particular. His wife was little
woman from Florida, and the darkness of
her complexion and q certain ~blueness of
the tinge Of her finger-nails spoke pretty
decidedly of an admixture of negro blood
in herself or in her ancestors, I,:found,
soon after Joined the company, that she
had been tried in Shakespearian leading
parts, but had so egregiously failedin them
that even to the partial eyes of her spouse
he fact was evident that a substitute for
her in these roles must be found The re-
suit was an advertisement in a New York
theatrical paper, and my acceptance
thereof, decided partly by the fact that
had been "resting" for q tediously
Iong period, but more by the
opportunity which seemed to be offered to
mo Of gaining experience In the higher
walks Of the drama. e
found the manager, who rejoiced in the
Enthusiastically aristocratic name OF
Calhoun, extremely polite, indeed. per
haps rather too much so, considering that
ais wife was q member Of the company.
must say, however, that this amiability
,n Mr.. Calhoun's part arose much more
from histrionic selfishness than from any
hing approaching gallantry. Like most
inthusiastics, he would have sacrificed
anything to improve the effect of his per-
lormances; and the fact that in me he
found o leading lady who. whilst compe-
tent to sustain the characters allotted to
her to the satisfaction of his audiences,
was yet sufficiently modest to adopt his
views of the proper treatment of a
dramatic situation, had, l am sure, more
10 do with his cordiality than any per-
sonal admiration for myself. / need
hardly say that the "views" alluded to
generally dictated giving a prominence in
his own performances and u retiring re-
,erve In mine which was not in every case
warranted by the authors text.
As for Mrs. Calhoun (Pepita, as her
husband called her-an example we may
IS we'll, for the sake of brevity, follow,
she showed her dislike for me the moment
we met. 1t was, perhaps, too much to en-
pect an actress who had made failure in
Heading business" and who had been
relegated to the Charmians and Emilias
II Skakesperian representations, to
welcome with cordiality the individual
who came to take her place. At
the same time. think Pepita
might have been a little less demonstra-
hive of her antipathy. When we met in
the passages of the various theatres which
we visited she swept past after the slight
est of mods. turning to me with marked
aisdain her rounded, though somewhat
swarthy shoulders; and whilst was upon
the stage often caught a glimpse of her
standing In the wings, glaring at me with
eyes that shone with the lurid glare of
bitter detestation. =
Isoon discovered that, in addition to her
hatred Of me as a DIR: 1atic rival, Pepita
cherished a feeling Of jealousy of another
kind. Knowing how de- ply artistic egotism
drowned every other voice in Mr.. Cal
houn's breast, was much amused at this.
ridiculous fancy on her part; and am
ashamed to say that, to annoy Pepita,
often elaborated the business" between
Mr.. Calhoun and myself. especially in
scenes of an amorous nature. had, how
ever, to be careful how did this; for the
tragedian, whose mind was entirely occu-
pied with himself and the effect he was
producing upon the audience, was inclined
to be uneasy at my thus putting myself
forward; and saw clearly that the day
On which cast him distinctly into the
shade would be the day on which should
receive firm but courteous notice"
/ will pass over several weeks
Of experience of this sort, during
which had firmly established myself in.
the good graces OF the various member
of the company, with the exception al
ways Of the hostile Pepita), aud come to
the time Of our visit To 5 the little city of
Selma, In the state of -. l generally
made point, I'M the places In which We
played, of making the acquaintance of
few OF the more Respectable Of the inhabi
tants.z Manners are much franker ana
more simple in this particular than with
you in England, anu o wellconjucted
young woman In travelling company il
received with hospitality by the unconven-
tional people Of the western townships.
During our stay ut Selma I had made the
acquaintance Of the family of Deacon
Clay. which consisted of one strappin2
girl and three stalwart sous, all about Tor
over six feet in height. The eldest and
most stalwart OF these three was named
Saul, and II was he who in the forenoons
during the first three days of our stay ut
Sclnix showed ME the "lions" of the place,
Ihe waterfall, the saw-mill, and the
.Maiden's Leap"-for Selma, like other
places, had its romantic traditions. On
the fourth, as /, like Oliver, asked for
more" he proposed to take me on visit
10 "Old Lesthers."a-s consented, and on
our way to this curious personage's abode
be gave me some information about him.
Old feathers, appears. was a harmless
lunatic, who lived on odd jobs and the
charity Of the neighboring farmers. His
particular weakness was friendship for
snakes In general, and rattlesnakes in
PAL ocular. To avoid the danger of being
bitten by these reptiles. he invariably
wore suit of soft leather, boots, jerkin,
In all-hence his eognomen.
We started from the town in one OF
those boxes upon wheels, which are digni.
0ed In the west by the name Of wagons"
and after q jolting drive of several miles
arrived at q glen between the two bluffs
At the top Of this Saul fastened the horses
and led me carefully down the narrow
path which wound its way to the bottom
Of tho little valley. II was bestrewn with
masses Of rock Of all sizes and shapes
The Philosophy OF the French.